Catalogue

Interview
392, LO/012/C12
Leicester Oral History Archive

Speaker: Entertainment, - , Interviewee, , Speaker: , Interviewer,

Summary of interview item: Entertainment. Compilation of interview extracts about the entertainment available in Leicester and other pastimes and leisure pursuits. Various recollections of home entertainments are recalled, including 'Birstall Jack the Barrel' a barrel organ player. Bank Holiday and courting activities are remembered. Descriptions of the Leicester Town Waits and the different playhouses of Leicester and what they showed, including the Palace, Opera House, Theatre Royal, Pavilion and the Empire, later called the Hippodrome. Music Hall and the arrival of cinema in Leicester and the effect of cinema on other entertainment and its development is recalled. Card playing is described, along with games of pitch and toss, the public houses of Sanvey Gate, the bake house and the lamp lighter. The contributors to this tape are: Mr Burton, Mrs Swan, Mr Draper, Mrs Warren, Mr Stacey, Mr Birch, Mrs Gamble, Mr Newbold, Mrs Rudkin, Mr Bell, Mrs Marsden.Place of birth:Education:Marital Status: , Children:Father's Occupation:Mother's Occupation:Location: County: LeicestershireLocation: Town/Place: LeicesterPeriods Covered: 1910s, 1920s, 1930s,Language: English